Lithium exploration initiatives pick up in Zimbabwe

By Wallace Mawire [caption id="attachment_44841" align="alignleft" width="640"] Minister of Mines Winston Chitando[/caption] Lithium exploration projects are taking off in Zimbabwe following recent pronouncements by the new government that the country is now open for business and is courting investors for its vast mineral resources. Winston Chitando, Zimbabwe’s minister of Mines and Mining Development recently told delegates, corporate and foreign investors and other stakeholders at the Zimbabwe mining investments conference in Harare that the country was poised to be one of the major producers of lithium in the world. “We are hoping that in the next four years, Zimbabwe will be supplying at least 10% of lithium of the global needs,” Chitando said. Chitando said that the new dispensation in Zimbabwe is emphasising the need for policy clarity and consistency and partnership with investors to bring in much needed investment which has been lacking in the country for too long. Some of the projects which are now under exploration in Zimbabwe include the Zulu lithium and tantalum project which is located 80km east of Bulawayo and is being undertaken by Premier African Minerals. The project is targeting a maiden mineral resource estimate of 20,1 metric tonnes of lithium and 51 ppm tantalum. According to George Roach, Chairman and CEO of Premier African Minerals at the recent mining investors conference in Harare, the project has an exploration target of 60 to 80 million tonnes of lithium in the main zone and on-going drill intersections in the new zone indicating the potential to add substantial new tonnes to the resource base. Roach also added that an infill drilling programme is currently underway to expand and increase the current resource base. He added that the Zulu deposit is among Zimbabwe’s largest lithium-tantalum projects with inferred resources of 20,1 metric tonnes and 51 ppm containing 526, 000 tonnes of lithium carbonate and 1,025 tonnes of tantalum pentoxide. Roach says that Zimbabwe is the world’s fifth largest producer of lithium mineral concentrate. Lithium raw materials are a vital ingredient for lithium battery technology. Also hardrock lithium minerals have a variety of applications with traditional uses including ceramics, glass and greases. According to Roach, Premier African Minerals has explored, developed and built a mid-size tungsten mine in Zimbabwe. Another separate project is the one being developed by Prospect Resources. According to Duncan Harry Greaves, Executive Director of the company in a presentation at the same conference, the Arcadia Lithium project represents Prospect’s flagship project and is the largest code compliant hard rock lithium deposit in Africa. Greaves said that the project was awarded national project status by the government of Zimbabwe. He also added that Prospect Resources is negotiating with potential investors to raise $55 million for the first phase of the project.